Open Questions

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Ranked by how much each one could move the search, against how hard it is to chase. Updated 19 October 2026.

1. Find the people who have seen these signs. The best evidence so far came from strangers’ photos. If you have one, or remember one, report it here.
2. Do the copyright deposit copies survive? The 1960 and 1961 registrations may have come with copies of the art, and the record copies could carry a name the catalog left out.
3. Where did CSA Images get item C829223, the straitjacket figure? Asked on 4 October, followed up on 19 October; no reply yet.
4. What is inside the Volk clip books of 1955 to 1960 that aren’t online (Gimmicks, Ad Starters, Zanies, Wackies)? They could prove or kill the clip art theory.
5. What do the 1962 and 1963 ads show in full? Several Schorr ads in American Coin-Op, Launder-matic Age, Drycleaning World and American Laundry Digest have only been read as search snippets. The New York Public Library holds the volumes.
6. Is the Bensonhurst laundromat still there, and is anything on its walls? The Google Maps survey hasn’t reached Bensonhurst yet.
7. Does the free color brochure survive? The 1961 and 1962 ads offered one picturing the whole line. Trade catalog libraries checked so far have nothing; the Coin Laundry Association and UC Santa Barbara are still open.
8. Did Allan K. Jensen’s posters use the same hand? His ads ran in American Coin-Op from 1962 to 1979, and in Drycleaning World and a bowling trade magazine. Full text search finds them; the page images are lending-only, so the art itself is still unseen.
9. Did Harry Sandler draw cartoons? The only public record of his art is a 2011 sale of an early 1970s watercolour of a young man playing guitar, described as Cezanne-like. No commercial or cartoon work found.
10. What did the shop look like? A 1980s city tax photo of 67-43 Myrtle Avenue and the 1968 board case files were requested on 4 October and followed up on 19 October; no reply yet.
11. What did the Queens papers say? The Ridgewood Times for 1963 to 1975 and the Long Island Daily Press may mention the shop or Joseph Schorr.
12. Why do most survivors have no frame when the 1962 ads promise stainless steel? Does Marlite have any record of Schorr as a customer?
13. What washer brand is named on the HERE’S HOW poster? It could show how the signs were distributed.
14. Where are TAKE IT EASY WITH THAT LOAD and EXTRACTING, ANYONE? No photo of either has turned up.

Ruled out, 19 October: the double-sided Philco-Bendix ‘clothes thief’ sign found by reverse image search is not a Laundesign. It’s filed under Other Vintage Laundry Signs.

Paused: who made the giant LAUNDROMAT storefront signs on so many old Brooklyn laundromats. A separate mystery, on hold until the Laundesigns artist is found.